Specialist retailer Ann Summers has seen some of the biggest growth to their social media fan base in recent months after a string of successful integrated marketing campaigns, according to new research.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE

Social media research reveals gains for Ann Summers, Tesco and Topshop

23 April 2012 | by The Retail Bulletin

The latest Social Media Benchmark results from eDigitalResearch showed that Ann Summers added over 250,000 new fans in the last three months after a number of high-profile campaigns such as its People’s Panel concept and search for a new face of the brand. As a result, eDigital said the retailer had moved 36 places up the table since the last study back in December 2011 and into 18th place in the Facebook league table.

Supermarket giant Tesco also made similar strides with its Twitter account and moved into the Twitter Top 20 for the first time as a result of its Tesco offers page.

Derek Eccleston, head of research at eDigitalResearch, explained: "The social media exposure that integrated campaigns can bring to brands is phenomenal and will become an important part of reaching new customers and engaging with existing ones over the coming months."

Fashion retailer Topshop regained the top spot of both the Facebook and Twitter league tables after losing the number one Twitter spot to ASOS in the last study. Topshop was also the first retailer in the study to break through the 2 million Facebook ‘likes’ barrier.

eDigital also measured retailers ‘talking about’ numbers for their Facebook pages, a Facebook measurement that takes into account user activity and interactions with brands, such as wall posts, comments and sharing pages. The results revealed that levels often corresponded with the number of followers the brands had, which eDigital said reaffirmed the importance of working towards building a large social media following and engaging with as many users as possible.

Eccleston continued: "The latest Social Media Benchmark results demonstrate, once again, the importance of having a strong social media presence. Previous eDigialResearch consumer results reveal that 25% of consumers now log into their Facebook accounts more than once a day.

"It is therefore imperative that retailers remain active and create an engaging and integrated social media campaign in order to utilise the large amount of consumers that social media platforms attract on a daily basis."